


Ruffled Emotions

by Blazing_Incubus



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: AU, Almost Drowning, Alternate Universe, Avian Dipper, Avian Dipper Pines, Avian Mabel Pines, Avian Stan, Avian!Dipper, Avian!Mabel, Bird, Bird-like Pines Family, Human bill, Hunter Bill, Hunter!Bill, M/M, Please bare with me I'm terrible with tags, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2016-06-26
Packaged: 2018-05-26 11:47:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6237391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blazing_Incubus/pseuds/Blazing_Incubus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For as long as Dipper could remember, humans had brought nothing but misfortune and destruction for everyone living in Gravity Forest. But when he is caught by a human hunter, things quickly begin to spiral out of control.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Calm Before the Storm

Dipper had always found comfort within the sky, the feeling of the wind rushing through his hair and feathers as he glided over the tree tops. He couldn't remember the last time he took the time to fly freely like this. From keeping his twin away from the larger human cities and studying the journal his Grunkle Ford left behind, he simply didn't have the time to fly this freely. Dipper skimmed over the tree tops in thought, he was going to have to thank Mabel after he got home. 

A small sigh left him as he settled on the top of a pine tree, allowing his wings to fall from his arms and fold against his back. The brunette shivered as his arms became numb when the limbs split apart from each other but pushed the feeling to the back of his mind and gazed out to the sleeping forest. The leaves glowed and shimmered as moonlight hit them while the wind gently played with each leaf. 

Dipper was trying to tame his bangs when violent rustling sounded behind him. Chocolate eyes widened in alarm as small wings grew in size, attempting to appear theartening. Before he could even think to do anything else, a blur of white, black. and gold tackled him, almost making Dipper fall off of the branch. 

"Found you Bro-bro!" Dipper heard his twin squawk, white feathers falling from her arms  to become small wings as they folded against her back with the occasional twitch. Now knowing the source of the violent rustling to be his sister, Dipper allowed himself to relax and felt his wings shrink and rest against his own back once more. 

He chuckled, gently returning the hug, "I wasn't out here that long, Mabel." The long-haired brunette pulled away with a pout before flicking Dipper's nose, chocolate eyes glancing at her twin's messy hair reveling a small portion of his birthmark. 

A grin quickly replaced the pout as she released Dipper and balanced on the thick branch, "I know, but I found something I think you'll really like and I couldn't wait for you to return to the shack~!" Mabel sang, reaching a hand into the pocket of her black skirt as the other hand brushed away the stray leaves clinging to her matching leggings.

Now, Dipper trusted his twin more than anyone in their nineteen years of living, but Mabel seemed a little too excited to show him whatever she had found and he couldn't help but remember the frog incident. The brunette narrowed his eyes in suspicion and mentally prepared himself for a slimy frog to jump and latch itself into his face.

Only to stare as Mabel pulled a folded piece of white from her pocket and handed it to him. Dipper gently grabbed the cloth from her, being careful with his sharp nails, and rubbed the fabric in between his fingers. He nearly cooed at how soft it felt and traced the single pine tree sewn into the fabric. 

"We're did you find this?" Dipper asked, looking back up at his sister, her gold top shimmering in the moonlight.

Her smile grew, obviously pleased with Dipper's interest in the cloth, "I was looking through an old cabin some human abandoned years ago and found it inside a tiny box."

"Thank you." He smiled, a little erked Mabel was exploring an abandoned cabin left behind from a human, but the proud smile she wore made him force down any and all protests. Dipper handed the cloth back to her and turned around in a silent request, which Mabel excepted with a squeal and immediately raked her fingers through his hair in an attempt to tame it; being careful not to catch Dipper's feathered ears with her sharp nails.

He felt his muscles relax as Mabel continued to tame his hair, nearly putting him to sleep before the feeling of cloth being set on his head and fastened to the back startled Dipper from his light doze. Brushing his bangs out of his eyes, Dipper turned arounf and inspected the dirt on his jeans as Mabel inspected his hair. 

After playing with his bangs, she gleefully clapped and let out a few chirps, "Perfect!" The brunette then stood on the thick branch, deagging Dipper with her and raised her small, but quickly growing, wings. 

Dipper raised a playful brow and raised his own wings as he spoke, "To the shack?"

"To the shack!" Mabel comfirmed, her white wings merging with her arms with small pops sounding every now and again. The feathers grew in length as her arms and wings became one and spread out at least double her arm span, "Let's go!"

An excited grin split Dipper's face as he watched Mabel take off while waiting for his own wings to finish merging with his arms, his own wing span only a bit larger than his twin's. With the merging finished, Dipper shot towards the other with the intent on winning their daily race. Mabel mirrored Dipper's grin before taking off to the shack at a much faster pace, it wasn't long before both teens were neck and neck with each pushing themselves to get ahead of the other, laughing in excitement as light from the shack drew closer and closer. 

"I'm going to win this time Dip-dop!" Mabel cawed, gaining the lead by a few inches. 

"We'll see about that Mabel!" He crowed back, flapping his wings a bit harder to push ahead. 

The two were going frighteningly fast, forcing a few leaves off of their branches a few days early from nearby trees. They didn't even see the door was closed until they were practically centimeters from the wooden door. Both twins let out a sqawk of surprise and braced themselves for impact against the unforgiving wood. 

Only to fall onto the wooden floor with their Grunkle Stan standing behind the now open door. The old man let out a sigh before closing the door and locking it for the night. Both Mabel and Dipper groaned in pain as they slowly untangled their limbs without twisting in an unnatural way. 

"You both need to learn tomake surd the door is open before charging for the door," Stan scolded, his black wings ruffled in irritation, annoyance, and a hint of worry, "You've both destroyed the last three doors with your racing and I refuse to pay for another door!" 

"Sorry Grunkle Stan." The two chirped, untangling their legs and separating their wings from their arms. Dipper reached up to brush his bangs over his birthmark out of habit only to stop  when he found the bangs still in place if not a little messy from the wind. 

The older man sighed before making his way to the back of the shack, "Just make sure to be more careful next time." He then walked away, still grumbling about fledglings and not having enough money to cover for their destructive behavior. 

Both owners of pure white wings looked at each other before shrugging. Dipper yawned and stretched his wings out, drained from their flight and the lack of sleep catching up to him. 

Mabel snickered before bouncing to her feet and, once again, deagging her tired twin with her, "Come on, sleepyhead. Bedtime."

Dipper let out a groan but complied with his sister and allowed himself to be dragged up the stairs where he plopped facedown on his bed. Being as exhausted as he was, Dipper almost didn't here his twin ask him,

"You're sleeping in your jeans?" He didn't have to see her to know Mabel was throwing him alook caught between amusement and slught disgust. 

"Yesh." Dipper mumbled, the single word caught by the sheets but it was loud enough for the other to hear.

"You're going to regret it in the morning Bro." She didn't even try to hide her snickers. 

"Mmmm... Dun care." Was his only response before curling deeper into the blankets, makjng sure to stay on his side as to not lay on his wings. 

"If you say so~." Dipper heard his twin sing as feathered ears picked up the sound of rustling fabric and the creaking of the bed springs as Mabel got settled within her own bed stationed next to the wall opposite of his. 

He waited until the sounds faded before speaking into the quiet room, "Goodnight, Mabel."

"Goodnight, Dip-dop." Her response was immediate and it was only a few minutes before Mabel's breathing evened out. 

In the silence, he promised himself he would find something to give to his twin as a thank you for the headband. Yet as he laid there on the cusp of sleep, a dark feeling settled in the pit of his stomach, making Dipper shiver and curl in on himself as he soon gave into his exhaustion. 


	2. Foreboding

The sun had only just begun to shine within the room of Dipper and Mabel Pines when the male teen opened his eyes with a soft groan. As quietly as he could, Dipper stretched his wings out as far as they could go within their shrunken state, silently flapping them a few times before moving his arms and legs. The brunette winced when the fabric of his jeans stuck to the skin of his legs in uncomfortable places, cheeks burning when Mabel's warning echoed within his head from the night before. Dipper silently slid out from the warm blankets and shivered when his feet hit the cold wooden floor boards. Making his way over to his dresser, Dipper snatched a pair of plain dark blue jeans and underwear before scurring into the bathroom down the hall and locked the door behind him. Setting the pants on the floor, Dipper moved his wings so he could see and gently racked a claw through them, shaking loose feathers free and making sure the second set of feathers underneath the surface feathers weren't bent or broken from the tumble he and Mabel took after their short race. 

Now that Dipper thought about it... who won? For all he knew, it was a tie.

Shrugging, the brunette continued combing his wings and making sure nothing was out of place. Satisfied he wings were perfectly fine, Dipper's attention turned to the only mirror in the room  and inspected his reflection. The headband Mabel had given him was still on his head and only a little loose, easily fixed with tightening the knot. Dipper took a moment to tame his messy hair as best as he could before debating on whether or not to tale another shower. 

He had taken one before going on his little night time flight and he gadn't flown enough for him to work up a sweat, so both his feathers and hair were still soft and without a trace of grime. 

He could also take one when he returned later tonight anyway. 

The single thought made up his mind and Dipper switched out of the dirty clothes for clean ones. After a quick stop to the shared room to make sure Mabel was still asleep and to throw the dirty clothes into a hamper, the winged male descended down the stairs and turned towards the only light on in the shack to see Grunkle Stan already in his full business suit with his favorite red faz sitting on his head; Dipper's back ached just thinking about how Grunkle Stan dealt with keeping his wings folded and pushed against his back over a long period of time. The older male was off in his own little world as he sorted and counted the bills and coins under his breath. Dipper watched a bit longer before turning to the kitchen and making his way towards the fridge, his wings wrapping around him when a blast of cold air hit him full force as he grabbed three hard-boiled eggs. Closing the door, Dipper began making his way back to the store part of the shack while peeling one of the eggs, looking at the many cheap and oh-so fake statues of supernatural creatures that decorated the room along with slightly over proced knick-knacks. 

He felt a smug little smirk graced his features when Dipper saw the five dollar "Mermaid Scales", which were actually just various seashells spray painted in bright glittery colors; the glitter part being from Mabel, and yet it was their best seller. 

It made him wonder if humans were just as attracted to bright shiny objects as they were. 

Dipper turned his attention to the now peeled egg in his hand and proceeded to nibble on the white part of the egg, leaving the yolk for last, as he made his way back over to Stan who was now putting the sorted and counted money back in the register. 

He waited until the older male had wrote the money amount on a pad of paper before handing him one of the eggs he still had. 

"How long have you been up, Grunkle Stan?" Dipper wondered, throwing the egg shells away in a nearby rash can before starting in his second egg. 

Stan huffed, already starting to peel the egg he was given, "Not long... few minutes at least."

"Thinking of more ways to con the humans from their money?" He asked, a small smile appearing when he managed to peel off the top part of the egg without breaking the shell; it joined its brethern in the trash bin after Dipper showed it off.

"Something like that." Stan managed to peel his entire egg with out the shell breaking into little pieces, "And what about you? Usually you sister's dragging you by your feet at eight. And even then you're not awake enough to form a simple sentence."

A troubled expression crossed Dipper's face as he peeled the last of his egg, in all truth... the uneasy feeling in his stomach had only grown throughout the night and even now it continued to nag him. He probably only got a few minutes of sleep in the entire night. 

But he didn't want to worry his Grunkle, "I was thinking abouf how to repay Mabel, since she gave me this to help keep my birthmark hidden I was thinking of getting her something as well." Dipper gestered to the cloth tied to his head as he ate the peeled egg in the same manner as the first.

Grunkle Stan finished the egg in one bite before stating, "Just give her something shiny, she'll be fussing over it for weeks." Stan tossed the egg shell in the trash, glancing at the younger to see the troubled look on his face once more. Taking a few moments to swallow the egg, he walked around the register and stated nonchalantly, "You didn't hear this from me, but there's a special lake a few miles west of here that's suppose to have stones of many different colors, occasionally gems show up at its shore too. Maybe you'll find something for Mabel there, but what do I know? I'm just an old bird."

Dipper's chocolate eyes sparkled and ate the last of his egg, throwing a quick "thank you" over his shoulder as he rant out the front door, not worried about anyone seeing his arms and wings fused together as it was too warly for humans to be up (normal humans anyway) and almost didn't hear the warning Stan yelled as he flew higher,

"Be careful of hunters!"

Dipper's heart sank to his stomach as he gained altitude and was soon soaring through the clouds with yet another troubled expression evident on his face. His flying was only a little shaky and he felt too uneasy to do any midair tricks unless he wanted to lose his breakfast. The uneasiness only grew the longer he flew west and Dipper was almost to the point of turning around and going back with the excuse he couldn't find the lake when his sharp eyes caught sight of the sparkling lake his Grunkle told him about. Apprehensively, he landed within the forest surrounding the lake he just  _knew_ his Grunkle was talking about and crouched on a tree's lower branches so he could see the normal-looking scenery clearly as suspicion danced in his eyes. Dipper's feathered ears twitched as they took in the nearby sounds and inhaled through his nose to hopefully pick up on any unusual smells and give him an excuse to bolt back to the Mystery Shack. He could help his and Mabel's friends prepare for their flight south or maybe assist in getting some human tourists to spend a bit more of their money; Dipper didn't care if he had to help his twin bedazzle her clothes if it meant staying at the shack until tomorrow.

Unfortunately for him, he couldn't pick up on any smells or sounds to alert him if someone dangerous was near.

Letting out a shaky breath, Dipper's wings and arms separated and he tucked his wings as close to his back as he could without having it become uncomfortable. He jumped to the ground with only a little bit of sound emitting from under his feet; Dipper stayed in a crouch behind a irange bush as he surveyed the clearing once more with an analyzing eye as his uneasiness grew. He waited a few more minutes for something to happen only for a light gust of wind to blow in his face. A sigh left Dipper,

"It's now or never."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Dipper slowly stood and made his way into the clearing. He nervously scanned the other orange and yellow bushes and trees as Dipper slowly made his way to the edges of the kake and started sorting through each colorful stone, ready to fly out of there at any sudden noise that wasn't a small animal. The nineteen year old lost count at how many times he jumped or let out a surprised squawk at the sound of a rabbit or some other animal scurring to and from the clearing; with the uneasy feeling still growing and nagging Dipper, he couldn't stopp himself from looking over his shoulder constantly and he couldn't shake the feeling of someone watching his every move as he shifted through the small rocks. 

The sun was already at its highest point in the sky by the time Dipper's paranoia was too much for him to handle when he saw something glint underneath the surface of the lake only a few feet from where he sat; the winged male was certain it wasn't just the water trying to trick his sharp eyes. Not minding he was getting his jeans wet, Dipper took a few careful steps into the lake and reached a hand under the water, the nagging in his gut momentarily forgoteen as he felt his nails hit the smooth surface of something small. Curiosity overriding paranoia, Dipper grabbed whatever had caught his attention and picked it up. 

Turning his hand upward, chocolate eyes widened when they gazed at the palm-sized stone resting peacefully against his skin. The stone reminded him of the time he and Mabel had first seen the Milky Way with no clouds to cover the veiw, the way to colors swirled together made him think about how the stars sparkled around each other in a slow dance across the sky . Dipper almost didn't want to tea his eyes away from the unique stone and was almost content with watching it glint the rest of the day. Only a small noise cut him from his thoughts, almost sounding like something had been thrown from a contraption of some sort. Before he could get his thoughts in order, a large net made contact with his back and Dipper let out a surprised squawk when his vision was observed by rope. Dipper could feel his gut screaming at him  _to get out of there now you idiot_ as he scrambled to get the heavy rope off of his body. The trapped male could feel himself on the verge of a panic attack as something heavy slammed into his back. 

Dipper let out a short lived scream as he felt a bone in one of his wings snap before finding himself submerged under the water with the heavy weight still on his back as he struggled to get it off. His lungs burned the longer he was held under and Dipper could slowly feel himself fade in and out of consciousness as his desperate struggled slowed  until he just stopped struggling all together. 

Only then did he feel the weight get lifted off of him and Dipper himself was let out of the freezing water. Immediately, he coughed up what water he had inhaled and greedily replaced it with precious oxygen; despite no longer being underwater, exhaustion was still making him fade out of consciousness. Dipper let out a pitiful chirp as colors blended together at a dizzying rate only to instinctively relax when he felt fingers run through his soaked scalp. He gave the stone one last squeeze before giving into exhaustion, bright yellow being the last color he saw before everything went dark.


	3. Panic

He was panicking.

Even before he regained consciousness, Dipper could feel his heart drop to his stomach as the nagging feeling faded into one of regret. When he could open his eyes, the brunette could feel the beginnings of a panic attack start up as he found himself inside of a large cage. Dipper tried sitting up to get off of the uncomfortable floor only to wince when ropes dung into his wings. A whimper nearly left his covered mouth as the memory of his wing breaking when something heavy hit his back. Moving his arms and legs provided to be useless as he found them tied up as well. Letting out a shaky breath allowed Dipper to calm some of his nerves, but it didn't help as much as he hoped when the ground under him shook with loud, mechanical noises echoing in his ears.

He was captured by hunters.

Why didn't he just listen to his instincts and fly out of there when he had the chance?

How long had he been out?

Oh god, what about Mabel?

Grunkle Stan would probably try to reassure his twin he was just out for a flight, but he would get suspicious when the sun fell and he still wasn't back.

Then what would happen?

Would Stan try to look for him?

Would Dipper still be _alive_ when Stan found him?

What were the hunters even going to do to him?

Dipper slowly curled in on himself as more unpleasant thoughts echoed in his mind, whimpering around the gag every-so-often when they became too much. The winged teen was so lost in his thoughts, he didn't hear the mechanical noises stop as the ground stopped shaking. The something being opened and the sound of someone's breathing made it passed his panicked state, Dipper completely froze as the sound of something tapping against harden plastic made it passed the heavy blanket covering the cage.

He was shaking, Dipper had heard about the horrible things humans do to his kind and anything else that happened to be different from the humans themselves; hell, he knew what humans did to _each other._ Dipper had every right in existence to be terrified right now.

A muffled squawk left his mouth as the cage suddenly lurched forward, making his body bang against the metal bars of the contraption. Dipper blinked back the welling tears in his eyes as they threatened to spill; he couldn't afford to show weakness to a _human_ of all things; he's gone up against creatures ten times his size for crying out loud! The brunette flinched when his vision was suddenly assaulted by bright light and tried to move away from the light, stopping when the movement only dug the rope farther into his broken wing.

Squinting his eyes, Dipper tried to see his captor through the light but only managed to see their silhouette before the blanket covered his view once more and plunged him back into darkness. The winged teen couldn't help but shake as the cage continued to shuffle forward bit by bit before being lifted. Chocolate eyes frantically looked around the cage in hopes of finding at least a small opening giving him a chance to see where he was. But the blanket let no light in from anywhere as his captor continued walking, humming a joyful tune. Panic continued to coarse through Dipper's veins as the sound of crunching leaves turned to light taps on concrete.

It mattered little about the fact that he was being carried to an unknown location, it's not like it bothered him at all. Dipper knew he was light, but the one carrying the cage didn't falter or mind the weight.

It only hurt Dipper's pride farther.

Panic refused to leave his system and he curled in on himself more and more until his whole body was screaming at him to relax as the ropes dug into his wings forcing the bones to grind together. Dipper complied if only to lessen unnecessary pain before straining his feathered ears, hoping to hear something besides the human's humming and tapping footsteps. After a few minutes of continuous humming and tapping with no other noises, Dipper felt like he was going crazy. The urge to get out of the cage and fly grew the longer he stayed still in the cage. Wiggling around did nothing to help the growing urge, it just grew more unbearable. He quickly switched it out for trying to get his hands undone. They were tied behind his back, under his wings, so he couldn't see what he was doing, but it didn't stop the stubborn male.

Flexing his fingers, Dipper found his claws could reach the strong rope binding him and quickly set his attention to clawing through it. Uncounted minutes passed, with various accidental scratches and a few rope burns before his arms were free. The hunter was still walking - just how far was their destination anyway? - and humming, which Dipper could it as a sign to continue freeing himself; the next target being his wings after yanking the gag out of his mouth. Gingerly, the winged male moved his arms to his chest and started picking at the rope keeping his wings tied down. As the last string snapped, Dipper breathed a sigh of relief and stretched out the unbroken wing as far as he could without it touching the metal bars or blanket - which wasn't very far - in order to loosen the muscles in his wing. With the broken wing however, the caged brunette could barely move it without his nerves sending signal after signal to his brain filled with excruciating pain.

It took time for him to move his arms down to the rope keeping his legs together with even the slightest movement sending a huge wave of pain through his body. Dipper clamped down on his bottom lip as he curled up to reach the last two ropes blinding his legs together. The one on his thighs was easy to get to and didn't call for him to move a whole lot but the one on his calves was one he knew would be a pain.

Feathered ears twitched when the sound of a door opening and closing echoed passed the thick blanket, Dipper's heart started racing as he rushed to cut through the rest of the rope. Dipper's head was closest to the cage door so he could easily bolt out of there once it was opened, though with his broken wing there was no way he would be able to fly straight to the shack; with his hollow bones however, he would be able to run fast enough without being caught.

Silently, Dipper kicked the last of the rope off of him before reaching a hand towards the cage door and struggling to unlock it. The nagging feeling in his stomach was back, causing cold shivers up his spine as he unlatched the lock; yet he didn't bolt out right away. He knew the blanket would blind him and allow the human to catch him once more. So he waited with a hand on the metal door as the cage was put down, Dipper's whole body tensed as he waited for the right moment, his broken wing momentarily forgotten as adrenaline overpowered his pain.

Everything was quiet, the only noises coming from his pounding heart and his and the human's breathing; he would never admit the human's breathing was calmer than his own. In the tense moment, Dipper couldn't help but notice how his body was like that of a stretched rubber band, seconds away from snapping should something trigger it.

Then something did.

The heavy blanket covering the cage was snatched away and in the same second, Dipper snapped forward out of the cramped cage and winced as his eyes were blinded by the color gold. He felt the nagging feeling grow as he searched for an exit; the winged male took only milliseconds to figure out he had just ran willingly into another - but much larger - cage as the sound of a metal door swinging shut echoed in his sensitive ears. With dread piling in his throat, Dipper slowly turned around to see a blonde human leaning against the smaller cage with a too-wide of a grin stretched across his face.

"You know," the human started, his nasally voice breaking through another panic attack, "had I known you'd be _this_ eager to get into your new cage, I would've let you out a _long_ time ago." The human male ended his statement with a laugh, his single golden eye locked with Dipper's chocolate ones. Dipper felt numb as he stood in the middle of the much larger circular cage, the nagging feeling now screaming at him about how stupid he was to rush out without checking his surroundings.

"So kid," Dipper winced as the male on the other side of the cage spoke again, "got a name?"


	4. So Done At This Point

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for not posting this chapter yesterday, so here I am at 3 in the morning so I at least try to stick as close to my schedule as I can at the moment.
> 
> Really quick, I would like to thank you guys for all of the kudos, comments, and hits this story has gotten so far. I'm still new to this so thank you for putting up with me :)

Dipper was so done at this point.

He let out a small whine before dropping to the ground and curling up into a little ball, covering his face with his arms and wrapping the unbroken wing around himself. Dipper glared at the human through his limbs as another chuckle emitted from him, the brunette simply huffed and curled tighter; yet he could still feel the blonde's piercing gaze on his small body.

He felt his feathers raise when the human's voice cut through the heavy silence, "Don't be like that, little birdie."

The brunette puffed his feathers out more and squished down urge to snap at the human; Dipper had no doubt in his mind the blonde would only be more annoying.

"You know..." _oh great, he's still talking,_ "if you don't have a name, then I'll just have to give you one!" Dipper felt his heart nearly stop beating as the last of his patience dried away.

His wing was broken, nearly drowned, woke up in a human-made cage, tried to escape only to run head first into a much larger cage, and now the one who caught him was insisting on giving him a name _like some sort of pet._ Dipper snapping was going to happen sooner or later.

 _"I'm not a pet for you to **keep** , let alone have!" _The brunette growled out, glaring full force at the astonished blonde watching him. White wings spread and puffed out in an attempt to appear threatening, Dipper ignored the jolts of pain coming from his broken wing in favor of glaring at the other while trying not to get distracted at the many shiny objects in the rest of the room.

They continued their little stare off for a while (almost an hour actually) before the unnamed human burst into full blown cackles and hunching over while holding his stomach, throwing the winged nineteen year old off as he lowered his wings in confusion; the more Dipper thought about his actions, the more he was regretting his little (read: huge) outburst. Just as the sane male was tempted to curl back up into a small ball, the cackling dwindled down until they became nothing more than little snickers.

The blonde reached a hand up to his eye to wipe away unseen tears as he spoke, "I was starting to think either you couldn't speak human tongue or I had nabbed a mute bird." He snickered a bit more before leaning his full weight onto the smaller cage and placing both hands underneath his chin, a painfully wide grin plastered on his face, "But it turns out I caught a bird with a fiery temper!"

Dipper chose to ignore the unnamed man in favor of looking around the room the large cage was in and couldn't decide on being awed or a little uneasy at the large amount of gold decorating the room; awed because everything was so shiny and uneasy, because that meant the man _probably_ had a lot of money which could mean he was a very high standing human.

He knew how humans worked, and hopefully he was wrong.

"Since you haven't told me your name, I'm calling you Pine Tree." The annoying male stated, making Dipper's feathers stand on edge once more as he threw a deadly glare at the human.

"My name's not 'Pine Tree'," Dipper calmly stated, grinding his teeth to keep another outburst at bay, "It's Dipper." _I don't even know your name, yet I'm giving you mine._

The blonde hummed, processing the information he was given before sending another grin Dipper's way, "I like Pine Tree more."

Chocolate eyes twitched as he glared at the human again, he wondered how long he could ignore the human again if he curled up once more.

Dipper was jarred from his thoughts when the unnamed male spoke, "The name's Bill Cipher, it'll do you well to remember that." The brunette had to bite the inside of his mouth to keep a sarcastic statement from coming out, his instincts were screaming at him that this 'Bill' guy was more dangerous than he appeared; Dipper already ignored his instincts once and look where he is now, captured by a human and away from his flock.

Needless to say he was never ignoring his instincts again.

Bill laughed at the uneasy stare he received from the winged brunette before his gaze landed on Dipper's broken wing. The other saw this and proceeded to shift his wing away from the man's gaze without causing himself too much pain.

Slowly as to not startle the paranoid brunette, Bill stood straight up and started walking towards the only door in the room, throwing a few words over his shoulder, "I'm going to find something to bind that wing of your's." Dipper blinked in confusion as to why the human appeared to be concerned about his wing, he flinched when the door closed slammed shut; Dipper's uneasiness only grew as he found himself alone in the golden room.

There wasn't much of anything to do in the cage, hell, there weren't even any blankets or other materials for him to at least put together a makeshift nest. The cold golden floor around him was bare, except for the few one-eyed triangles etched into the cage but he ignored those. With how barren it was, Dipper came to the assumption that Bill hadn't known of his species existence until the human caught him. It made Dipper feel slightly better, but it also made him wonder why the blonde had such a large cage to begin with. Lifting his broken wing off of the floor, Dipper walked closer to the edges of the cage and inspected the bars. The design was exactly the same as the smaller cage mocking him from the other side of the door and there was no way he would be able to-.

Wait.

Back up.

_The door._

As quickly as he could, Dipper bolted to the entrance (and hopefully his exit) of the cage and looked at the lock keeping him from leaving. From what he could tell, the lock needed a key and his hopes diminished when the door wouldn't give with him shaking it. Dipper clicked his tongue and backed away from the locked door, trying to think of something to unlock the door with if he couldn't get a hold of the key. Seconds ticked by as Dipper once again found himself curled into a little ball, blocking out the shiny belongings in the room so he could think.

The lock looked too thin for him to pick it with his nails and the brunette knew he couldn't fly with one of his wings broken, so Bill would be able to catch him even if he managed to get the door unlocked. Until his wing was healed, Dipper was a sitting duck.


	5. Yup. Still Uneasy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhhh... I'm alive? Eheheee... Sorry about the sudden stop in updates, life can be very very unpredictable. Still though, thank you for reading and putting up with the extremely late update. Enjoy~

The only occupant in the golden cage forced himself not to flinch as the doors of the golden room slammed open and the eccentric blonde strolled in with eager steps.

They stopped and Dipper could only guess Bill was just outside of the cage, "Aw, come on Pine Tree."

 _Ignore the voice and it will go away._ Dipper told himself, squeezing his eyes shut and covering his ears to shut out the annoying human.

"And here I thought we were getting closer."

 _Ignore it, just keep on ignoring it._ Yet he couldn't help but wonder how he could still hear him though his ears were covered

"..."

... It worked?

Silence met his feathered ears when he uncovered them and was about to uncurl when foreign hands touched his pristine feathers, a squawk left his lips as Dipper scrambled to get away from the eager hands petting his broken wing. Cackles echoed in the room as the brunette glared at Bill, holding the wing he was petting and frantically smoothed down the ruffled feathers while trying to get rid of the feeling of the human's touch still running through his feathers. Dipper was very picky with his wings, only letting his twin help preen his wings while he did her own wings; having a human hunter touch his wings only sent unpleasant shudders through his body.

Bill's cackles died down once more and sent the currently glaring brunette a mischievous grin, "Your wings looked soft, I couldn't help it," the glaring increased, but it was ignored as Bill continued talking, "Besides, you're going to have to get used to me touching your wing since I'll be wrapping it."

The glare was instantly replaced with a look of confusion as the blonde pulled two rolls from behind his back, one in white and the other in gold; somehow Dipper wasn't surprised when he saw the gold roll, it seemed to him the human preferred color combinations that included the shiny shade.

Just because the blonde human wanted to bind his wing so it didn't end up healing in a weird position, didn't mean he was going to just lay down and let Bill run his hands through his feathers. The simple thought of it made a snarl appear on his face as Dipper backed away when Bill took a step towards him. Needless to say, the human was amused with the attempts at keeping the distance between them... at first; the longer the brunette kept it up, the more irritated the blonde grew.

His golden eye closed as Bill inhaled deeply, trying to bring his irritation down when his eye snapped open and a grin split his face in two; an idea had come to him.

Casually, the blonde leaned back and stared at the brunette almost pressing himself against the cage bars. Bill studied how the unbroken wing was curled around Dipper with the broken wing twitching on occasion. He let the silence between them become tense before laying the trap,

Bill put the gold roll in the same hand as the white roll and put the empty hand behind his back, "Since you won't let me bind your wing, I suppose I'll just keep this little stone." Dipper's eyes widen as the blonde revealed the stone he had found at the lake and felt his heart drop to his stomach, the brunette had hoped he had either dropped it back in the lake or slipped it into his jeans or something; his surprise turned into one of defeat when he couldn't think of a way to get the stone from the grinning blonde.

He sighed, locking eyes with Bill, "I'm guessing you won't give me the stone back unless I let you wrap my wing."

"Good guess, Birdie~." Dipper's eye twitched at the name, but choose not to say anything, "Now come here so I won't have to break the wing to set it right."

Horrified shudders ran through his body at the thought of the human breaking his wing (again) before inching towards the grinning human. Dipper ignored the smug glint in the blonde's single eye as Bill gestured for him to lay down on the metal ground. He hesitated for only a moment but still laid on his stomach and cushioned his head with his arms; feathered ears picked up the sound of Bill sitting by his broken wing and it took every nerve in his body not to flinch away as gloved hands adjusted the limb. His body twitched uncontrollably as the hunter handled the broken limb with surprising gentle hands, though Dipper still couldn't get over the feeling of someone touching his wing while he laid in vulnerable position. Quiet and angry squawks slipped out of his mouth when the dark-skinned human moved the wing painfully in a certain direction, other than that both were relatively silent; with Dipper's sensitive ears though, he could hear soft humming coming from Bill as he worked on binding his wing.

As the human worked, Dipper's eyes moved to the room the cage was placed in and was instantly locked onto the large window clearly showing him the large amount of trees soaking up the sun's rays. Pain shot through his system from both Bill adjusting the wing again and thinking about his Grunkle and twin, clueless about his current situation. He couldn't help but wonder how long it would take for them to know something was wrong.

A tap on his head forced him out of his thoughts and he looked back to see a golden eye looking at him, Dipper tilted his head in question but didn't speak.

"Not that I'm complaining, but you could at least take me out to dinner before spreading yourself on me." Bill's grin greatly resembled a cat as Dipper's entire face gained a red tone to it and despite having a bound wing, moved off of the human's lap and pressed himself to the golden cage too fast for the human eye. While the winged teen was trying to figure out just  _how exactly_ he ended up sprawled across the human's lap, the other occupant watched the unique creature as he gathered up the supplies he brought with. Replacing the supplies with the stone, Bill silently left the cage - well aware of the eyes following him - and closed the cage door with a soft 'click' of the lock following after.

A single golden eye met the gaze of the creature's analyzing brown and sent him another cat-like grin, "I'll be back in a moment, you like fish right? Or do you like worms better? Then again you are part human... ever tried spaghetti?" Not surprisingly, Dipper didn't answer even as his eyes gave away the slight interest at 'fish', heavy disgust at 'worms', and mild curiosity at 'spaghetti'. 

Bill shrugged when only silence answered him and turned towards the door, light taps emitting with every step he took as the blonde called over his shoulder to the caged teen, "Try not to get to lonely little birdie~!" 

Dipper could only aim a scowl and glare at the hunter's back, his face still bright red and he knew his voice would only come out as a squeak if he tried talking back to the man. Feathered ears strained as he forced himself to listen to the fading footsteps, only moving to gather the stone when he could no longer hear Bill. As he sat on the cage floor, rolling the pretty stone around in his hands, Dipper let his body droop, wincing as the bandages held firm and refused to let the broken wing shift. With him letting his body relax, came a giant wave of exhaustion not being denied any more attention with the human away for who knows how long.

The brunette was very tempted to fall asleep where he sat, but paranoia of the annoying man bursting through the door at any moment forced all thoughts of sleeping out of his mind and went back to examining the room outside of the cage, quickly taking notice of the one-eyed triangles scattered around the large space. And with nothing better to do, started counting all of the hidden triangles he came across, every few minutes glancing at the door and expecting Bill to come back.


End file.
